Sania edges past Perry

Sania Mirza entered the third round of the DFS Classic in Birmingham on Wednesday after a hard-earned victory over Shenay Perry of the United States.

The 14th seeded Indian won 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, in a match stretching just over three hours.

She will next face America's Meilen Tu for a place in the quarter-finals.

In the first round too, Sania was stretched to the limit before beating Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova got off to a flying start to her grasscourt season with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over American qualifier Ahsha Rolle.

Other results: Round 2
2-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
5-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) beat Jarmila Gajdosova (Slovakia) 6-2, 6-3
8-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia and Montenegro) beat Shuai Peng (China) 6-2, 6-1
7-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-4
Meilen Tu (US) beat Lilia Osterloh (US) 6-0, 7-6(6)
Vera Zvonareva (Russia) beat Martina Sucha (Slovakia) 6-1, 6-2
6-Marion Bartoli (France) beat Bethanie Mattek (US) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
Jamea Jackson (US) beat Sarah Borwell (England) 6-2, 7-6(5)